Friday, September 30, 2011

Collectible Color Plates: Color Your Shelf

AbeBooks: Collectible Color Plates: Color Your Shelf: Most people familiar with AbeBooks will have seen the words ‘color plate’ used in association with certain rare book listings. Plates are whole page illustrations printed separately from the text (illustrations printed within the text are called cuts) and naturally color plates feature color illustrations.

To some book collectors, the golden age of color plates had to be the Victorian era where countless books were produced on flora and fauna complete with numerous color illustrations of everything from moths and butterflies to grasses and alpine plants. However, many subjects are addressed in color plate books, including satirical cartoons, sporting scenes, landscapes, costumes, fairy tales and architecture.

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